In learning or practicing many sports, it is challenging for the athlete or participant to perceive precise orientation of their hands, arms, legs, head, and other parts of their body. This may be because the athlete cannot observe their orientation or their proprioceptive awareness is not sufficiently acute to sense the precise orientation of parts of the body. There are many sports, including swimming, for which spatial orientation of parts of the body is a significant determinant of effective technique.
In the specific case of swimming, an effective swimming stroke involves the movement of the hands, arms, shoulders, and other parts of the body through each swimming stroke cycle to generate forward thrust or propulsion while minimizing the water resistance to forward motion. To accomplish this, the swimmer must maintain a streamlined body position in the water while executing effective hand, limb and body movements to create forward propulsion. The spatial orientation of the hands, limbs, head and body, while executing the swimming stroke are important determinants of effective swimming technique for both propulsion and streamlining to minimize resistance and maximize speed. Additionally, proper technique can minimize the risk and severity of injuries as repetitive motions or strenuous body positions can cause injuries.
The physical nature of water and the mechanics of swimming present particular challenges for a person seeking to develop swimming skills. In addition to gravitational forces, water resistance and buoyant forces act on the swimmer's body while swimming. The combination of these forces make it challenging for the swimmer to perceive accurately the orientation and motions of their hands, arms, shoulders, legs, and other body parts in the water as they learn to develop effective swimming technique. Furthermore, the swimmer must focus on breathing, their position within the pool, count laps, keeping track of distance, timing of drill sets and a myriad of other tasks that can prevent the swimmer from focusing on their body position and orientation. Furthermore, the position of the head relative to the hands, limbs and other body parts can make it challenging or impossible for the swimmer to directly observe the orientation of key parts of their body while learning or practicing swimming.
Swimming paddles and similar devices have been used for many decades as devices to aid swimming effectiveness and for swim training. The devices have evolved with innovations based on the shape, size, hand/arm attachment method, materials, buoyancy, physical features and purpose. These devices include or are also referred to as hand and wrist paddles, palm plates, gloves, hand boards, hand fins, wrist flippers, body surfing hand boards, etc. There is a further need for improvements in the swimming paddles or swim hardware for training a swimmer.